This invention relates to concrete floating wharf structures of the type comprising a plurality of individual float units which are interconnectable to form a walkway. Floating wharf structures have gained a wide acceptance in modern marinas and boat harbors as the most practical means of docking and mooring small craft in tidal waters or in other waters where the water level changes. The use of a floating wharf structure permits the level of the wharf structure and hence the walkway to maintain itself at a relatively constant height with respect to the craft docked or moored. This relatively constant positioning simplifies the tying or mooring operation and naturally maximizes the convenience in boarding.
The use of multiple individual float units or pontoons allows a versitility in the modular arrangement of the overall wharf structure. For example, a central walkway constructed with a series of projecting side fingers forming boat slips is a common arrangement of float units in wharf structures.
In particular, this invention relates to a means of interconnecting the individual float units that provides as nearly a rigid connection as possible. In prior art devices, interconnections have been devised which provide a degree of flexibility between float units. The means of interconnection for these devices have usually comprised one or more stringers, customarily fabricated from wooden tie rails of rectangular cross section, fastened flat against a part of the vertical sides of two or more adjacently arranged float units. The stringers have customarily been fastened by anchor bolts imbedded in the concrete structure of the float units. It has been discovered that the continuous flexing of the tie rails transmits substantial forces on the anchor bolts causing the bolts to fail, or more commonly, causing the bolts to work loose in the concrete, occasionally pulling out. When a bolt fails or works loose, the difficulty in replacing or reanchoring the bolts ofer requires that the entire float unit be replaced as a matter of expedience. While certain improvements in the method of anchoring bolts have been devised to reduce the frequency of failures in the anchoring of such bolts, such improvements have not totally alleviated the problem.
It has therefore become an objective to eliminate, to the extent possible, any flexure between adjacent float units, thereby eliminating the cause leading to the failures. Furthermore, in the case where extreme conditions, such as storms, cause failures in the anchor bolts, and in some cases the stringers themselves, it is a desirable objective to provide a construction that allows a simple replacement of the bolts and for the stringers.